Today was the "real" first day of holiday! After a short stop of 3 days in Buenos Aires, now I´m in Peru in Lima and leaving tomorrow morning for Cusco. As expected, it seems not easy to upload pictures so as soon as I find a good place, pictures will come.Today was anyway only for typical touristic pictures with monuments.

I’m currently in Peru, and the other day I wanted to book a flight from Pucallpa to Lima. As it was raining (a lot) so avoiding a hike into town, I logged on to the LAN Peru website (www.lan.com), and discovered when I tried using my UK credit card, the price was UK Pounds 88, looking at what it would cost using a US$ credit card the price was $88. So the UK price was DOUBLE….I could also assume that it would be similar for the Euro Zone……so Caveat emptor!

So if you are planning to book internal flights before you arrive in Peru, you would save a heap of money by doing that when you get to Peru.

I find myself just after midnight in the Lima airport. I just barely made the connection in Houston, but I have learned my backpack has not. Do I stick around another day or do I press on and let the airline take care of it? I opt to press on.

I fly on to Juliaca, then take a cab to Puno and find out later I spent way too much on cab fare. I meet up with my buddy Jason to learn he just had his laptop stolen. Apparently misery loves company!

I check out the town of Puno, which is on an estuary of Lake Titicaca. It´s oddly liberating not lugging around a lot of baggage when in a new place. I´m super-tired and the high altitude is starting to get to me, but oddly enough I am enjoying myself!

I talked with the airline who lets me know my bag is in now at the Juliaca airport. Me and Jason hop on the local bus into town, and then onto a sketchier bus to the airport. The one guy there tells us to come back six hours later, because the fellow with the key to the luggage area won´t be in until the next arrival.

No worries! We´re just exploring the not-so-touristy town of Juliaca and find it´s kind of refreshing seeing a new country off the beaten track. Later that afternoon the keymaster shows up and I get my bag. Unfortunately it´s too late to leave Puno once we saunter back into town.

On the way back to Peru, we now have our second illegal border crossing to contend with. Helen (English) crosses in the usual way while Jason and me (American) kind of casually tiptoe our way back to Peru, since our passports say we should already be there anyway. A policeman sees us but doesn´t seem to care enough to stop us.

We take the bus back to Puno, have lunch, and then it´s a much longer haul (8 hours) to Cusco. We get the first place we can find near the neighborhood of San Blas.

The guys running the hostel are jerks so we opt to find a better place in the neighborhood. San Blas has a great view of the city, with narrow cobblestone streets and steep roads that in some cases only hold enough room for pedestrians.

We take care of our plans for the Inca Trail and start to enjoy the city. Plaza de Armas is the main square with two huge cathedrals and a giant plaza where all sorts of activity happens.

Everyone tries to catch up on email and we finally get some do-nothing time.

More exploring of Cusco by going down to the market where all sorts of local food and crafts visited by locals and tourist alike.

We take care of the rest of the arrangements to start the Inca Trail on Sunday. After renting sleeping bags and walking sticks we head to the first briefing for our trek, where we meet our guides and the rest of the campers with whom we´ll be spending the next four days.

We start the day waking up at 4:00am to meet up with the crew at Llama Path who put us on a bus and hit the road for a two-hour drive to Piscacucho where we have breakfast and start off on the trail.

We check out some of the ruins across the river and some more again when cresting the first big hill before settling down for lunch.

We find a big tent already set up by the porters in which there are tables and place settings, from which we receive a five-course lunch that was pretty tasty after the long morning. I can´t say as I´ve ever had a complicated meal like that while camping!

The skies open up and we have to pull out our panchos to keep our packs dry as we continue on the trail. By day´s end we have finished 14km and climbed 600m (2000 ft).

Another five-course dinner is greatly appreciated and we do our best not to think about the day-to-come, where things get hairier.